After a slightly longer than planned testing phase 1 it’s now finally time to move on to the second testing phase. This means that the foundation and base structure of Paragraphic is now finished and tested on real world users. The next testing phase will be focused on adding some more content/features and nodes on top of this foundation and finding bugs to get ready for the early access third testing phase when the application will be available to try out for anyone at a reduced price.
As an example of the current state of Paragraphic, here’s an example video recreating a classic generative design pattern inspired by the works of Vera Molnár.
Thanks to all the testers who participated in testing phase 1 and sent in useful feedback there have been a lot of changes and improvements during the first testing phase:
Major changes from Testing phase 1
UI/UX
- Improved connection adding UI, including dragging to add connections to other layer nodes.
- Node previews in the Selection panel, giving a visual representation of the step by step generation of the layer.
- Much improved Getting Started introduction.
- Improved appearance and clarity of text and icons on non-hiDPI monitors.
- New graph visualization to help understand Apply Function and Repeat function node functions.
- New parameter context menu offering access to various parameter settings and options for each parameter.
- Allow customizing limits and reordering custom document parameters.
OS integration
- Use native OS confirmation dialogues and save/open panels based on platform.
- Use native macOS top menu bar on macOS.
- Windows application code signing.
- Allow opening .pgdoc documents from the OS file manager.
Generation / nodes
- New Function repeater, Path repeater and Random repeater nodes.
- New Apply Layer node, allowing you to use output from one layer to modify elements in another layer.
- Many new parameter input nodes added to allow more complex relationships between parameters.
- Rebuilt random value generation system for getting stable and unique random values in parameter input nodes.
- Improved pivot point features with new Set Pivot node, changed default pivot calculations for groups and new adjust pivot options in layer transform panel.
Performance
- New rendering backend and improved overlay rendering performance.
- Greatly improved performance when using random values via parameter input nodes.
And many many more smaller changes and bug fixes.